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Sonntag, 29. April 2012

If there's anything I should have lying around, it's scrunchies. Unfortunately, I seem to "distribute" them all over the place, so that I usually don't find any of them. That's why I buy more and more of them - only to discover later that there were some in the pocket of a winter coat or in a bag that I hadn't used for ages.
By chance I found on ravelry a pattern for one ... before, it had never occured to me that this could be a knitting or crochet project.

So, this weekend I went to the supermarket and bought cheap hair rubber bands.

First I tried with thin cotton yarn - and it looked just fine. Then I thought that this might be something to use my tarn for. (How to make tarn: here.)

It took me several times, to get it right. Since tarn is quite thick, it was necessary to use it in a way that the scrunchy wouldn't get to heavy. For example, loops of chain stitches were just to thick and unelastic.

Ever since I saw some "swing knitting" projects on ravelry, I wanted to make something like that myself. I managed to start something similar yesterday. It's basically constructed of short rows ...
Though I am pleased with the result, it doesn't look quite as "organical" as I would have liked it. Furthermore, I made a few mistakes so that the pattern is not really regular. But for a prototype (and something I have figured out without a written pattern), it's OK.

Sonntag, 8. April 2012

This scarf is the ideal spring project for "bi-craftuals" :)
You can combine your knitting and crocheting skills into one special garment.

The scarf is knitted from side to side with crochet flowers added at the beginning of every 12th row by taking the last stitch off the needle and using it as a chain stitch to crochet from. After two flowers have been crocheted the stitch is slipped back on the knitting needle and knitting is continued in a normal way.

A photo tutorial on how to crochet the flowers can be found in this blog post.

3.5 mm knitting needles (i.e. knitting needles that were slightly bigger than the yarn called for)

2.5 mm crochet hook

ca. 100 grams fingering weight yarn (I used Zwerger Opal Surprise, but any other fingering weight with a nice color change will do)

How to crochet the flowers:
At the beginning of a row use the crochet hook to take the first stitch from your knitting needle and start to crochet the flowers - the numbers in square brackets are references to the chart.

ch 7, sl st in 4th chain to form a small loop (the first flower will be crocheted around this loop) [1]

to form the first petal ch 3, dc 2 in loop, ch 3 and sl st in loop,

ch 3, dc 2 in loop (this starts the second petal of the first flower)

ch 7, sl st in 4th chain to form a small loop (the second flower will be crocheted around this loop) [2]

ch 3, dc 2 in loop, ch 3, sl st in loop (first petal)

ch 3, dc 2 in loop, ch 3, sl st in loop (second petal)

ch 3, dc 2 in loop, ch 3, sl st in loop (third petal)

ch 3, dc 2 in loop, sl st in the top of the last dc of the second petal of the first flower [3]

ch 3, sl st in loop of first flower (the second petal of the first flower is now finished)

ch 3, dc 2 in loop, ch 3, sl st in loop (third petal)

ch 3, dc 2 in loop, sl st in the first chain [4]

put stitch back on knitting needle and continue pattern

I have written a short tutorial (with photos) on how to crochet the flowers - here's the link.

Section 2 - Increase rows
Row 1: kfb, k to end
Row 2: k
Row 3: make flower and then k to end
Row 4-6: k
Row 7: kfb, k to end
Row 8-12: k
Repeat these rows a total of 19 times and once more knit rows 1-10 (you have 50 sts on your needles)

Section 3 - Decrease rows
Row 1: k
Row 2: k until the last two stitches k2tog
Row 3-4: k
Row 5: make flower and then k to end
Row 6-7: k
Row 8: k until the last two stitches k2tog
Row 9-12: k
Repeat these rows a total of 20 time

Section 4 - Finishing rows
Row 1: k
Row 2: k until the last two stitches k2tog
Row 3-6: k
Repeat these rows 7 times (there are only 3 sts left on your needles), then
knit one row,
knit and k2tog,
knit one row
and bind off the last two stitches.

Weave in ends and block - making sure to block the flowers separately.